Refocusing my Blog on Fitness and Martial Arts after 50! We are never too old to make changes that can positively impact our health. All things are possible with Faith in God!

Saturday, November 09, 2013

Star Gazing

I often go out on the back deck and gaze up at the stars. I have never been a true star gazer I suppose, not really ever knowing what I was looking at. I honestly could not tell you what or where the big dipper or little dipper might be. Yet I have been curious lately as to what I was seeing each time I walked out early in the morning when the stars were very bright.

I finally took the time to find out exactly what I was seeing this morning and it is rather fascinating. After an internet search of about half an hour I found a free program called "Stellarium". I downloaded it here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/stellarium/?source=pdlp and I was very pleased with the results. After typing in my location in NC, I was able to see the exact sky I was looking at only minutes before! Now I know exactly what I thought might be the big dipper really is and no, it is not the big dipper...

This program has a multitude of functions and is really amazing. When you click on a star it gives you all sorts of information about it, more than the average star gazer will need to know. It will of course show you the constellations from a western culture POV but also has other cultures listed as well. I have just begun to play around with it so I'm sure there is much more to tell but for now, I highly recommend this if you are a curious star gazer like myself..

Here's a good view of what I am seeing right in the middle of my early morning sky from my back deck. What I thought might be the big dipper turns out to be Orion's Belt!